Blaze
The Blaze is an uncommon mob with yellow colored skin and black eyes. They first appeared in the Beta 1.9 Pre-release 1 version. These are hostile mobs who are located within The Nether. When a player is spotted, they will set themselves on fire, which does not damage them, and they will then shoot a 3 round-burst type of fireball attacks at a player. They guard Nether fortresses and are usually spawned from a Monster Spawner, but can be found roaming Nether Foretresses. They are easily recognized as a ball of flames, which can help a player notice a blaze before they are noticed. Since a Blaze is on fire, and fire is extinguished by water, Blazes are the only mobs that can be killed with snowballs. Zero to one blaze rods are dropped when killed. Blazes have two attacks. When a player is close, the Blaze hits a player for about 2 hearts of damage. If the Blaze has spotted a player, but a player is too far, the Blaze will shoot a fireball at a player, which ignites on impact. Spawning Blaze spawners can be found only in Nether fortresses and will start spawning Blazes once a player gets within 16 blocks. The mob spawners have a chance of spawning 1–4 Blazes at once. Blazes can only spawn in light level 11 or lower (at the lower half of their body). Blazes can also spawn naturally elsewhere in NetherFortresses. Behavior Although Blazes are able to fly, they will stay on the ground or sink down slowly in the air when not attacking. Blazes will attempt to swim upwards in lava, much like regular mobs behave in water. When they see a player, they will start flying and shooting. They will catch fire briefly. A short cool-down period occurs between attacks. In addition to normal weapons, Blazes can be hurt by snowballs, taking 3 (1 1/2 hearts) per hit. If they have found a way into the Overworld, they are also damaged by water and even rain. Water does roughly 1 damage every second. Like all Nether mobs, they are not damaged by fire or lava. If killed by a player, they drop Blaze Rods. They will attack each other if one blaze hits another, just like Skeletons. On the Xbox 360/PS3 version, Blazes do not catch fire when either attacked in Creative mode or when they have spotted a player. They also do not make fireball sounds, making it hard to find where they're coming from. They also drop glowstone dust on occasion, as well as their blaze rods. This makes glowstone a renewable resource on the Xbox/PS3. Strategy Blazes are considerably difficult mobs to fight, due to their ranged attacks and rapid rate of fire. Their ability to fly usually leaves a player's sword useless, while charging a bow leaves a player vulnerable. Their flight also can make it tricky to collect their loot. One response is to use a fishing rod to reel them in. Another is to run behind a corner and ambush them once they get close, or place blocks to take cover between attacks as they advance. However, as of 1.9 and the addition of shields, the fireballs can be completely negated. If surrounded, however, it is difficult even with a shield as the blazes can shoot from different angles, nullifying the shield. The use of fire resistance is extremely helpful when fighting Blazes, as their attacks usually wind up dealing more fire damage than initial impact. While fire protection can absorb a lot of damage, total fire resistance is necessary to shrug off the hail of fire. For a player's first Blaze fight, they can make a shield and bow, which are very cheap, needing only three string, three sticks (bow), and six wood and one iron ingot (shield). Enchanted Golden Apples can be an effective way of encountering blazes for the first time, but they are no longer craftable in vanilla Minecraft, so a player will have to rely on their seldom occurrences in chests. Snowballs are deadly to Blazes, doing 3 points of damage apiece, and snowballs can be thrown a lot more quickly than a bow can be charged up. Plus, snow is easy to find in any snowy biome and is even renewable, therefore allowing easy obtaining. In case inventory is tight, snow blocks can be used to store snowballs 16 times more efficiently. However, a shovel is necessary to re-obtain the snowballs. Wolves do not do well against Blazes. Besides the monster's high health, they tend to get set afire (splash potions of fire resistance can help). If they are used, bring extra wolves, and plenty of rotten flesh or other meat to heal them. (Zombie Pigmen drop rotten flesh, although attacking Zombie Pigmen is a very dangerous thing to do.) On a positive note, wolf kills do get blaze drops and experience. Iron Golems can be used to kill blazes, but there are several drawbacks: * They do get set on fire by the Blaze's fireballs, and can also take melee attacks. As with wolves, a splash potion of Fire Resistance can help. * Blazes won't drop the Blaze Rod unless a player deals the killing blow. * The golem's immense knockback is likely to toss Blazes off the balcony entirely. If they die, the experience and probably the Blaze Rod is lost; if they survive, they will hang around, sniping from a distance. * Iron Golems don't follow a player, and may wander off in the down time between Blaze spawns. Stray pigmen are a distraction to the golems. The pigmen won't become angry at a player, but the fights will wear down the golem. 'Camping' at a Blaze spawner is an effective way to gather Blaze Rods, as they will always appear close enough to attack with a sword, and there is a delay in their attack after they spawn because they have to charge first. This is best done in combination with the fire resistance potions in effect. A blaze farm can be built in several ways in several ways. A good method is to construct a box around the entire spawn zone (tip: the fences around the spawner are not far enough away). Another would be to make a doorway to kill them as they come down, or a single hole in the bottom where they can be shot from. Again, stay within 16 blocks of the spawner to keep it going. A trap for them can be made by digging a shelter under their balcony, then mine a 1×3 hole up to their balcony. Sometimes, a natural version of this will appear, when a narrow staircase leads up to the spawner room. Another good way to hunt Blazes is to use a melee approach that exploits a Blaze's attack cycle: The blaze will "burn" for a few seconds, then fire three, and only three, fire charges. If a player is not in line of sight, the Blaze will delay its attack until they are, and eventually, the Blaze will itself move into line of sight and fire. After firing, they need to wait a few seconds before they can fire again. * If a player can find a corner to hide behind, they can wait until it "should" fire, then peek out to draw the fire, and dodge back in so the shots hopefully miss. At this point, it's a player's turn to kill the Blaze with a sword while it can't attack. If facing multiple Blazes, they can be taken out one at a time. * Alternatively, a player can simply hide one block below and to the side of a Blaze and strike his "legs". Most, if not all, of the Blaze's attacks will simply hit the block above a player or below the blaze. This method is best used next to staircases right below the spawners, using a door to block them in. This way, a player may quickly enter the danger area to access to any blaze rods that might have fallen out of reach. If set on fire, a player can just retreat and recover. This method has been successfully used with nothing but a player's fist, though of course, swords are much faster. Blazes are an efficient way to farm experience. They drop 10 experience points when killed by a player, as opposed to only 5 dropped by most other hostile mobs. The above camping method, combined with potions of fire resistance, can generate an average of about 65 experience per minute.